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Bea | |
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The Beano character | |
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In-universe information | |
Full name | Beatrice Menace |
Beatrice "Bea" Menace is a fictional character from the British comic magazine The Beano . She was born in issue 2931 (introduced by David Parkins) and is the baby sister of Dennis the Menace. She appears frequently in her brother's comic strip, but would receive comic strips of her own to star in, including a crossover comic strip with Ivy the Terrible.
She is very flatulent and often farts. She uses her farts as a way of menacing.
Bea's appearance is extremely similar to her elder brother's in that she sports short jet-black messy hair and a behind the nose grin. She is a toddler who wears a striped yellow and black onesie with a short ponytail with a yellow hair band to match. After the 2009 re-launch of Dennis and Gnasher, eyelashes were added to her appearance and she became far more baby-like in not only looks but also personality.
David Parkins had always intended that the character would be called "Bea" (short for Beatrice), but the comic staff decided to put the name up for a reader vote. The readers seemed to agree with Parkins, as "Bea" won the vote by a nearly two-thirds majority.[ citation needed ] Dennis' Mum regularly shouts, "Bea! No!" whenever she misbehaves.
As part of The Beano 's 65th anniversary, issue 2925 teased a "big surprise". [1] Five issues later, Dennis' parents announced his mother was pregnant, making Dennis faint in shock, but ended on a cliffhanger as his mother went into labour and rushed to the nearby hospital. [2] The front cover of the following issue showed Dennis' delighted father rushing out of the maternity ward to tell his son (and Gnasher) "It's a girl!" [3] The story inside showed Dennis and Gnasher's worry that a little sister would mean constant crying, baby toys all over the house, and that she could grow up to be an ultra-feminine little girl obsessed with makeup and perfume, who over-occupies the bathroom. The final panels reveal he has nothing to worry about as Walter takes a family photo that shows Bea kicking her father in the mouth and spraying her mother with a milk bottle. [3] She would later win the vote for naughtiest baby in Beanotown at a week old.
In issue 2935, Bea starred in Beaginnings drawn by Nigel Parkinson. [4] It was about her misbehaviour at home, saying her first word ("mud") and playing with her older brother's pets. The title changed to Dennis's Little Sister Bea – the Mini-Menace from issue 3099, [5] but was also known as Bea. She shares notable similarities with fellow Beano character, Ivy the Terrible, who, from August 2008, joined Bea in her strip, renamed Bea and Ivy . Nigel Parkinson continued as artist, as Ivy had been reprinted before the team up.
Bea's own strip returned for a few issues in 2009, however, this was dropped later that year, mainly due to her older brother's relaunch. In 2010 Bea joined up with Gnipper and Harley, Gran's pet pig, in a new strip titled The Bea Team, the title being a parody of The A-Team film which was released around the time the strip was in The Beano. In 2014, Bea returned to her strip drawn by Nigel Parkinson. [6]
Issue 2942 (5 December 1998) was a special issue dedicated to her, where she appeared in every strip in the comic.
Bea makes appearances in the CBBC series Dennis the Menace and Gnasher .
The Beano is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Lord Snooty and His Pals, Ivy the Terrible, General Jumbo, Jonah, and Biffo the Bear.
Roger the Dodger is a comic strip character from the comic magazine The Beano. He first appeared in his eponymous comic strip in 1953, and is one of the longest-running characters, characterised by his tactics for avoiding responsibility and his parents rules, or simply making chores easier, usually with the help of instructional "dodge" books.
The Bash Street Kids is a comic strip in the British comic magazine The Beano. It also appeared briefly in The Wizard as series of prose stories in 1955. The strip, created by Leo Baxendale as When the Bell Rings!, first appeared in issue 604. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and has become a regular feature, appearing in every issue. From 1962, until his death in 2023, David Sutherland drew over 3000 strips in his time as illustrator.
Pup Parade is a British comic strip that features in the comic magazine The Beano. It is a spin-off to The Bash Street Kids, following the lives of their dogs, and appeared in several issues for over two decades. The comic strip has been rebooted frequently, from the comic magazine it debuted in, to other comic magazines created and owned by DC Thomson.
Gnasher is a fictional comic strip character that appears in the British comic magazine The Beano. He is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace, who meets him in 1968's issue 1362, and is also the star of three spin-off comic strips. Gnasher is considered just as iconic as his owner as both have been the stars of many children's television programming and are the unofficial mascots of The Beano. Gnasher reached nationwide news in the 1980s after he disappeared from the magazine for seven weeks, returning with his six newborn puppies, but usually interacts with his son Gnipper.
Rasher is a British comic strip published in the comics magazine The Beano, featuring Dennis the Menace's pet pig Rasher. It was initially drawn by David Sutherland and published five years after the character's first appearance. Due to The Beano's 2012 continuity, Rasher's daughter has succeeded the role, particularly in Dennis And Gnasher: Unleashed!.
Minnie the Minx, whose real name is Hermione Makepeace is a comic strip character published in the British comic magazine The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953, making her the third longest running Beano character behind Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger.
Lord Snooty is a fictional character who stars in the British comic strip Lord Snooty and his Pals from the British comic anthology The Beano. The strip debuted in issue 1, illustrated by DC Thomson artist Dudley D. Watkins, who designed and wrote Snooty's stories until 1968, but the stories would continue featuring in Beano issues until 1991, with occasional revivals and character cameos.
The Three Bears was a long-running British comic strip which appeared in the British comics magazine The Beano. It first featured in 1959's issue 881 and ran sporadically until 2011 through reprints and several artists.
Ivy the Terrible is a fictional character featured in The Beano. She is a four-year-old girl who annoys her parents with her misbehaviour. She first appeared in The Beano in 1985 in the comic strip of the same name, but has starred in other comic strips throughout Beano history.
Big Eggo was a British comic strip series about an eponymous ostrich, published in the British comic magazine The Beano. He first appeared in issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, and was the first cover star. His first words in the strip were "Somebody's taken my egg again!" It was drawn throughout by Reg Carter.
Pansy Potter is a British comic strip character from the magazine The Beano. She first appeared in Pansy Potter the Strong Man's Daughter issue 21 in 1938, and was first illustrated by Hugh McNeill.
Billy the Cat is a fictional character first published in the British comic magazine The Beano in 1967. He is a vigilante dressed in a "cat suit" who stars in his eponymous adventure story, and occasionally teams with Katie Cat. A popular character, Billy the Cat is a prolific figure in DC Thomson's comic magazines, his character appearing in a variety of series and issues of non-Beano magazines.
Walter Brown is a fictional character that appears in the British comic magazine The Beano. He is the rival and antagonist to Dennis the Menace who is vilified because of his lack of interest in stereotypically masculine activities and attitudes. From his first appearance in 1953, Walter became the target of Dennis' pranks and misbehaviour but would brush it off. Sometime in the 1980s, Walter's characterisation changed after reader backlash and made him a snobbish rich boy foil to his enemies.
The Fun Size Beano and Fun Size Dandy were small-format, full-colour children's comics, originally published four times monthly by DC Thomson and Co. Ltd between 1997 and 2010. They replaced the Beano and Dandy Comic Libraries, originally printed in red, white and black and published from 1982 to 1997. The Beano Comic Libraries lasted for 368 issues and their Dandy counterparts lasted for 344 issues. There were also comic library specials, The Beano Comic Library Specials being puzzle books and lasting for 87 issues (1988–1994) and the Dandy Comic Library Specials being cartoon books, featuring a number of single page comic strips and these lasted for 88 issues (1987–1994).
Nigel Parkinson is a British cartoonist who works for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and mainly draws for The Beano and The Dandy.
EPIC Magazine was a monthly British comic magazine published by D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd It was originally a spin-off of the UK comic, The Beano. Each issue had 40 pages and costs £3.99.
Marvo the Wonder Chicken is a character in the UK comic The Dandy. The strip first appeared in 1990, and continued in odd issues until 1999. He returned in 2008 to tie in with the planned DC Thomson TV series. The strip is "silent", with only words such as "Crash" and "Bang", and ending with Marvo saying "Ta-da". Marvo's sidekick and biggest fan, Henry Thrapplewhacker XLIX, also appears.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee, Scotland. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his dog, an "Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound" named Gnasher.
David Alan Parkins is a British cartoonist and illustrator who has worked for D.C. Thomson, publisher of The Beano and The Dandy. Now based in Canada, he illustrates children's picture books.